As White, I'd be looking to fianchetto my Bf1 and get into a Tarrasch set-up which shows a6 to be a waste of time.  I don't know exactly how to do it, but that's my $.02 for late at night.  The game you showed in which Topalov drew was interesting, but Yusupov refrained from the critical lines.  This was way back in 2000.  I'd be curious to see if Topalov played this way more recently.

kylemeister wrote on 09/22/07 at 17:08:14:


Przewoznik & Pein give 6.e4 b4 7.e5 bxc3 8.exf6.

Now, instead of Alburt's 8...Qa5, they recommend 8...cxb2 9.Bxb2 gxf6, and comment that: "it is hard to believe that right now the attack is more important than a pawn."  Since their book was published in 1992, this position has been reached twice, and White won both games:

[Event "SVE-LAT corr"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[White "Markauss,Juris"]
[Black "Hjorth,Gunnar"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 a6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Nc3 b5 6.e4 b4 7.e5 bxc3 8.exf6 cxb2 9.Bxb2 gxf6 10.Bd3 Bg7 11.Qc2 Kf8 12.0-0 f5 13.Rab1 d6 14.dxe6 fxe6 15.Be4 Ra7 16.Bxg7+ Rxg7 17.Rxb8 fxe4 18.Qxe4 Rhg8 19.g3 Qc7 20.Rfb1 Re7 21.Qf4+ Ke8 22.Ng5 Rf8 23.Qe4  1-0

[Site "Sovata"]
[Date "2001.03.10"]
[White "Manolache,Marius"]
[Black "Varaciuc,Vivian"]
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 a6 4.Nf3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.e4 b4 7.e5 bxc3 8.exf6 cxb2 9.Bxb2 gxf6 10.Qd2 Bg7 11.Bd3 0-0 12.0-0 d6 13.Rfe1 f5 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Rab1 e5 16.Rb6 a5 17.Nxe5 Qf6 18.Qb2 Na6 19.f4 Nb4 20.Re3 h6 21.Bb1 Ra6 22.Rb8 dxe5 23.fxe5 Qe7 24.Rg3+ Rg6 25.a3 Na6 26.Rbb3 Kh7 27.Rbf3 Rxg3 28.hxg3 Qg5 29.Qb6 Qc1+ 30.Kh2 Qxc4 31.Rxf5  1-0

I'll have to look more carefully, but I think Black can improve on both these games.  Nevertheless, I'm not sure I agree with Przewoznik & Pein's conclusions: bishops on b2 & d3, and queen on d2 are sitting on nice diagonals aiming at the kingside.  Maybe Black should be looking for ways to avoid castling into the onslaught.

Alburt's 8...Qa5 9.bxc3 gxf6 10.Bd2 f5 11.Bd3 Bg7 looks somewhat more compelling...

kylemeister wrote on 09/22/07 at 17:05:24:


Black can also get a good Tarrasch after 5.e3 d5:

[Event "Fujitsu Siemens Masters"]
[Date "2000.06.22"]
[White "Jussupow,Artur"]
[Black "Topalov,Veselin"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.e3 a6 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 Bd6 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.b3 0-0 11.Bb2 Ba7 12.Rc1 Bg4 13.Nd4 Bxd4 14.Bxg4 Be5 15.Bf3 Qd6 16.g3 Rad8 17.Bg2 Rfe8 18.Re1 h5 19.Qd2 h4 20.f4 Bxc3 21.Qxc3 hxg3 22.hxg3 Qe6 23.e4 dxe4 24.Rxe4 Qf5 25.Rxe8+ Rxe8 26.Bxc6 bxc6 27.Qxc6 Re6 28.Qa8+ Re8 29.Qf3 Ng4 30.Bd4 Qh5 31.Qh1 Qa5 32.Qc6 Re1+ 33.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 34.Kg2 Qe2+ 35.Kh3 Nh6 36.a4 Qf1+ 37.Qg2 Qd1 38.Qa8+ Kh7 39.Qe4+ f5 40.Qd5 Qf1+ 41.Kh4 Qd1 42.Kh3 Kg6 43.Qc6+ Kh7 44.Qd5  1/2

I can't imagine 5.Bg5 poses much trouble.  Ideas involving cxd4, Qa5, Ne4 seem to look reasonably good for Black and diminish the value of this kind of pin...

HgMan wrote on 09/22/07 at 16:21:46:


Good question.  Books tend to give 5. e3 d5 (with a known type of Semi-Tarrasch), but I haven't seen other moves (like 5. Bg5) mentioned ...

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6

Prompted/inspired by a suggestion by TopNotch on another thread, I'm toying with this opening as an aggressive complement to the Nimzo-Indian.

4.Nc3 c5 5.d5 b5

Two options here:

1. 6.Bg5 b4 7.Ne4 Be7 looks fine for Black

2. 6.dxe6 less common, incidentally, fxe6 7.cxb5

Has anyone experimented with these lines?